Workshop Journal · Chapter 01
The engine
Fork, five lanes, quantizer, first offline render
10–11 Jul
10 Jul 2026
Forked
Cloned the official Spotykach firmware and started a portable, hardware-independent modulation engine.
10 Jul 2026
First tests
The five modulation lanes — FLOW, STEP and EVOLVE — run deterministically, verified by desktop unit tests.
11 Jul 2026
First offline release
Published the modulation-first fork — github.com/mcbronkowitch/spotymod (milestone M1). No hardware yet — the proof is the offline render below: a fixed 16-step melody that drifts as EVOLVE is dialled in.
11 Jul 2026
Scales & quantization
Added a pitch quantizer: the PITCH lane now snaps to a chosen scale before it reaches the engine, with hysteresis and change slew so notes settle instead of chattering. Pick a root and mode — there are no wrong notes. Both parts snapped to minor pentatonic below, unfolding over 48 seconds as EVOLVE drifts each lane.
11 Jul 2026
Effects & modulation
The original FLUX (tape echo) and GRIT (drive/reduce) return per part, joined by one shared ambient reverb — but here every FX parameter is a modulation target, driven by the same five lanes as the rest of the part (milestone M1.6). Below: a STEP lane stepping the echo time into dub pitch-jumps with feedback swells, then a Dorian melody breathing into a shimmer reverb.
11 Jul 2026
Polyphonic synth voice
The M1 test tone is gone: a real four-voice synth now sounds each part. Every PITCH event starts a voice whose pitch latches at trigger, long decays overlap into pads, and FLOW mode holds the last voice as a sustaining drone that never falls silent (milestone M2). Envelope times are ratios of the modulation cycle — slow the rate and the same patch stretches into pads. Below: a Dorian melody with voices overlapping, then a continuous drone with breathing timbre and filter.